“May I speak with Annie?”
“Sorry, she left for work already. We’re here in her nice cabana, though. She had it set up like a hospital room for him, except it has a view of the ocean. Rex likes looking out at it.”
Of course he does, he grew up on an island, Maddie wanted to say, but did not.
“Shall I put him on again to say good-bye? It’s time for his medication and a little more sleep.”
“Yes,” Maddie said. “Please.” There was a faint rustling sound, followed by words Maddie couldn’t decipher.
“Maddie?” His voice sounded clearer that time, but tired.
“I miss you,” she said, though she hadn’t meant to because she didn’t want to upset him.
“Be home soon,” he said.
Swallowing and closing her eyes again, she simply answered, “Good. Because I can’t wait to see you.”
“Bye.”
“Bye, Rex.” Silence followed. Then she added, “I love you.”
“Hello?” The voice came from the nurse again; Rex must not have heard Maddie’s last words.
Which was probably just as well.
Exhausted as she still was from the night before, Maddie did not want to go back to sleep; she wanted to shower, run downstairs, and share the news with Francine. After all, she’d talked to Rex, she really had. And he’d sounded great. Sort of.
Her first stop was his upstairs kitchen to start brewing coffee. A small bag sat next to the fancy coffeemaker; Maddie picked it up and peeked inside. A bagel that wafted of “freshly made” was tucked inside. A note was included—a nice one, not scary.See you downstairs at 11:00? Eat this first. Lox and cream cheese in fridge. You’ll need the energy! F.♥ Below that Francine had written: P.S. Great job last night, Tks.
Francine was a dear girl.
Then, checking her watch, Maddie saw it was ten fifteen.
Her long-lost adrenaline kicked in.
After wolfing down the bagel and chugging half a mug of coffee, she took the quickest shower she ever had, then dressed in the black pants and turtleneck and quickly rinsed her dress because the restaurant had been crowded the night before and, yes, a patron had bumped into her while she balanced a tray and two plates with bay scallops, fresh-caught in Vineyard waters that day, and potatoesdauphinoise, from an original eighteenth-century recipe from the South of France that somehow managed to splatter Maddie’s apron and one side of her dress.
As she hung the dress on the shower rod, she wondered if other women had showered there—and, if so, how many. At this age, it was more a curiosity than a need to know, unless one of Rex’s “formers” still had her sights on him.
She supposed it was possible.
But with no time left to lollygag, she swallowed her penchant for overthinking, put on her game face, and rushed downstairs where she donned a clean apron and prepared to serve the happy couples.
Somehow, she made it through the weekend, though by Sunday night, she felt sick. She wondered if she’d stressed herself out by working practically nonstop for so many hours, and if menopausal women shouldn’t do that. But to be honest, Maddie knew that over these past weeks, her brain wasn’t the only part of her that had been suffering: She hadn’t felt terrific since she’d stood in the parking lot at the Black Dog Café on January 3rd, and Kevin had called with the news about Rex.
But she was too tired to think about feeling a bit off, as her father would have called it; her task for the weekend was complete, and she’d loved every second of it.
After Francine locked up, Maddie hugged her good-bye and decided to stay in Rex’s apartment that night, too, rather than make the drive back to Menemsha.
She slept better than she thought she would have.
In the morning, she tidied up after herself and repacked her suitcase. On her way out of the bedroom, she saw the socks she’d borrowed sticking out from under the bed; they must have landed there when she’d peeled them off Saturday morning. She picked them up now, folded them, and opened the top drawer of Rex’s bureau to put them back where she’d found them. But as she started to set them inside, she noticed a blank envelope. In her hurry, and in the darkness on Friday night, she hadn’t noticed it before.
It didn’t look like the same size as the one the notes were delivered to her in. And yet … she couldn’t resist lifting it up to be sure. As she did, she saw a greeting card, not a note, under the flap; he hadn’t yet tucked it in.
Maddie had no intention of looking at it, but the front of the card was staring up at her. It was white with black outlines of two stick figures, one of a boy, the other, a girl. The only color came from two red hearts, placed anatomically (sort of), and had red dotted lines connecting his heart to hers and hers back to him. Both of them wore a smile, and they were holding hands. More out of instinct than curiosity, Maddie opened the card; there was no printed text or sentimental poem, only a line of scrawly penmanship that read:I LOVE YOU SO DAMN MUCH. Beneath that, Rex had signed his name.
Maddie was stunned, then excited, then …
